Neural affections associated with mental retardation in students from Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil - DOI: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v28i1.1096

Abstract

Mental Retardation (MR) is an altered state of intellectual development that makes the social integration of individuals difficult. The objective was to study 147 MR individuals, registered students of APAE, from the city of Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil, from 1989 to 2003. Through a descriptive approach, we were able to assess the prevalence of neural pathologies in relation to gender, the kind of birth delivery the individuals have undergone, the age of their mothers at their birth, and the MR family history. The following diseases were found: MR – isolated cases, 34.8%; Down Syndrome (DS), 19.7%; cerebral palsy (CP), 19.7%; other syndromes, 15.6%; dyslexia, 6.8%; and behavior disturbance, 3.4%. Among the variables that showed large differences were: the gender, in diplegia-CP, 3male:1female; kind of birth delivery, in hemiplegia-CP, 10normal:1cesarean; family history of MR among DS individuals, 24.1%. Among the MR individuals from elder mothers (>41 years old), DS was more frequent (50%)